He took charge of the world champion team, but since then, Gautam Gambhir has mostly faced embarrassment. The Indian team has set several disappointing records since last July, with the most recent being a whitewash at home against New Zealand.
The last time the Indian team faced such a situation at home was 24 years ago. It is being reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is annoyed with a series of disappointing results. According to a national media report, the board officials are so frustrated with Gambhir’s performance that they have even started considering relieving him of his duties in red-ball cricket.
The series loss to New Zealand at home has put Gambhir’s qualifications as a coach in red-ball cricket under scrutiny. On Friday, Gambhir faced tough questions from the board officials during a post-mortem of the loss. The board believes that Gambhir’s ‘stubbornness’ is largely to blame for the disappointing result against New Zealand.
According to sources, several decisions taken by Gambhir were questioned during the meeting. The board officials asked why Jasprit Bumrah was rested in the Mumbai Test despite the team trailing 0-2 in the series. They also questioned why a spin-friendly pitch was prepared in Mumbai even after the team’s collapse against spin in Pune. Sources claim that the officials also raised concerns about Gambhir’s tendency to ‘dictate’ pitch conditions.
This is not all. According to the national media outlet ‘Dainik Jagran’, the board officials have already decided that the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be Gambhir’s real ‘test’. If he fails to pass this test, he could be removed from his position as the red-ball cricket coach. Questions about Gambhir’s role in Tests have already started surfacing.
‘Dainik Jagran’ reports that if Gambhir fails to deliver a good result in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, VVS Laxman could be given the responsibility of coaching the Test team, while Gambhir may be asked to focus only on coaching limited-overs cricket.
This raises another question: if removed from red-ball cricket, will Gambhir choose to remain as the white-ball coach? In that case, Gambhir, who is Dravid’s successor, might step down from his role as the team’s coach entirely.
